


walked in on a plan

by hungryghosts



Category: Gossip Girl
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-30
Updated: 2010-06-30
Packaged: 2017-10-26 04:05:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/278496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hungryghosts/pseuds/hungryghosts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nelly Yuki is a smart girl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	walked in on a plan

**Author's Note:**

> originally written for the awesome ladies ficathon '10

Nelly Yuki is a smart girl. She knows everyone says her name like it's a joke, as if it's a forgotten ending to some Dr. Seuss rhyme. That is, when they can remember it, when they don't confuse her with Kati, who's even more of a parenthetical afterthought than she is. Nelly is smart and Asian and a Smart Asian is a Smart Asian is a Smart Asian, right?

Whatever.

Nelly is a National Merit Scholar and a Peabody Scholar and an Intel Science Talent Search Finalist and a million other things no one cares about because none of them fit into a text message. She tells herself and everyone that she's above it.

Still, when Blair extends her an invitation into her clique, Nelly jumps at the chance and throws away her dignity in exchange. She's not dumb--she knows Blair tried to sabotage her--but while she wants Yale, she wants friends too.

There are other things she wants. Like--like Dan Humphrey. But then he becomes Serena's and she becomes Blair's and her watching and pining days are (mostly) over. She tries to talk to him a couple of times, works up her courage during shared study periods (3rd hour on Wednesdays), but as soon as she does, his eyes glaze over and his face transforms into one of irritation--obviously she's there because Blair sent her. Because she's not Nelly Yuki anymore, she's just another snake attached to Blair's Medusa.

Screw you, Dan Humphrey.

Soon, she adds Blair to that list, and Iz, and Penelope, and, why not, Serena. It's okay, though. She's driven and smart and wears glasses and she's watched enough high school movies to know that her day will come.

So Nelly signs up to take the SAT again, and makes sure to sleep a full eight hours the night before, and carries an extra pack of batteries. She charms the admissions officer during her Yale interview and pulls an all-nighter to work on her essay. She still remembers how to go after what she wants.

Nelly builds Yale into a castle in her mind, and when she gets there--it's just as big as she imagined it, in a way New York never was. Her phone buzzes sometimes, gossip about her old classmates because they spent high school making sure they would never have to leave it. None of the blasts mention her. She deletes them to study and maybe party and study some more.

You see, Nelly Yuki is a smart girl and she knows when it's okay to be forgotten.


End file.
